Kospi falls 4.8 percent, sell sidecar triggered

South Korea's Kospi was down 4.79 percent at 5,653.02 late on Friday morning in Seoul, and the Korea Exchange triggered a sell sidecar for the first time in 11 trading days after Kospi 200 futures fell more than 5 percent.

Why it matters: Seoul is the Asian market most concentrated in the AI chip trade, so a near 5 percent fall led by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, after Alphabet's results revived doubts about AI spending returns, is the clearest sign yet that the US tech selloff is transmitting to Asia.

Data as of Yonhap News Agency reporting of October 30, 2026 (Seoul date), in Korean, both articles read in full in this run: index levels are as of 09:23 and 10:08 Seoul time, the sidecar time and futures level are the Korea Exchange's as reported by Yonhap, and the overnight US figures are Yonhap's. Developing item.

The Kospi opened down 2.99 percent at 5,760.35 on Friday and the fall deepened through the morning, reaching 5,653.02, down 284.64 points or 4.79 percent, at 10:08 Seoul time, Yonhap reported. Samsung Electronics was down 5.28 percent and SK Hynix down 8.72 percent at that point, foreigners and institutions were net sellers, and the Kosdaq was down 3.32 percent at 728.25.

At 10:04:55 the Korea Exchange triggered a sell sidecar, suspending the effect of program sell orders on the Kospi market for five minutes, after Kospi 200 futures fell 5.12 percent to 887.92 and held a fall of 5 percent or more for one minute, Yonhap reported. It was the first Kospi sell sidecar since October 15, when the index plunged 7.57 percent.

Yonhap attributed the fall to the overnight US session, where the Dow Jones fell 0.25 percent, the S&P 500 fell 0.30 percent and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.38 percent after Alphabet’s third quarter revenue missed expectations and its free cash flow stayed in deficit for a second quarter, reviving concern about the returns on AI investment. Alphabet fell 12.64 percent, and Intel and Amazon were falling sharply in after hours trading after results Yonhap described as below market expectations.

Kospi falls 4.8 percent, sell sidecar triggered

Sources